


The Red Oleander

by TrashPatate



Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, will add tag as I go with it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:07:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27423949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrashPatate/pseuds/TrashPatate
Summary: When the Dragon Riders learn of a way to undo the dragon's root effects, they decide to go on a journey to get it. Sadly this mysterious antidote might just be another form of venom, and they might not be the only one wanting access to it.This is basically an AU where everyone is alive (well Stoik and Viggo for this matter).I am just tired of studying and need a way to get my imagination out.I apologize for my english as well, not a native heh
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Kudos: 3





	1. Introduction

_Oh gods, oh gods_

He couldn’t help cursing, even if he was out of breath. He couldn’t stop running as well, because he knew _it was there_. Right _behind him_. He could even feel its horrid breath, on his neck. But maybe this was all a dream. It had to be a dream. Something like this could simply not exist.

But now wasn’t the time for denial. He had to run. At least to get to his best friend, waiting for him on the edge of the isle. Now the growling was right behind him.

_Come on! I’m almost there!_

Hiccup saw the light behind the trees. _Finally!_ He could escape! Toothless was right behind those trees, waiting for him! He could hear his usual growl- Wait, why was he growling? _Oh no..._

“Toothless! I’m coming! Hang on bud!-” A huge wolf jumped right in front of him and pinned him to the ground right as he said that.

_How did this happen?_


	2. How Berk is doing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Let's see where this goes.  
> I add original characters everywhere btw  
> As always, if you don't like it, act like I don't exist :)

“When did we get this many chickens?!” asked Valka, as she was currently trying to catch one of them.

“Tuffnut had a chicken, and it had lots of chicks, and now they’re absolutely _everywhere_ on Berk!” screamed Snotlout as he caught one of those he cornered near a house. He put this one under his arm and headed to Tuffnut’s barnyard to lock him there. As he did so, Valka caught the last one, Chicklet if she recalled the name correctly, and putted it with his 7 other siblings in the barn. Snotlout closed the fence, sighed and turned to Valka.

“Well, that’s all of them. I’m out. Hookfang!” He then turned around, mounted his dragon and took off in the sky. Valka got on Jumper to leave this area as well since her work here was done, and headed home.

Hiccup tried to fix the sword as best as he could, but it seemed the repair was impossible. He turned to Gobber, showed him the mace.

“Hm. You’re right. It’s completely useless now. Just take the scrap metal parts and I’ll tell Bucket he’ll have to get a new weapon, mace if that’s what he wants. Gotta sharp your friend’s sword tho.”

Hiccup looked at what was Ruffnut’s sword. “Yeah I know that.” He picked it up while sighing, because it was the third time this month that Ruffnut asked him to sharp the same sword. He knew she was often training, even if it didn’t look like it. But he knew better then to underestimate the twins, especially when they were together. While working at it, he saw his mother coming back from the mountains. _She probably managed to get all of the chickens back_ . Then he happily sighed. _His mother_. It still was a little weird to say something like that, or to even think like that after all this time, but he was happy to make the effort for it.

He still couldn’t believe that he had both his parents now, even tho his father almost died when they were trying to stop Drago. But he survived.

Even tho he couldn’t fly his dragon at the moment because of how bad his wounds were.

So Eret was the one mounting the Rumblehorn. That was a strange thing as well; Eret being part of his village, almost part of his family. He got really close with him as time passed by. He was helping a lot in their Dragon Rescue. Astrid thought so as well. He was smart, and knew a lot about dragons, which was helpful when they were discovering new species.

He finished his job on the sword. He looked at it, and nodded, satisfied of his work. He took his apron off and spoke loudly so Gobber could hear him through the forge.

“I’m done with Ruff’s sword Gobber! I’m heading back home!”

“You do that. I will see you later lad.”

He exited the forge and went to his house. He stopped mid-track when he saw Astrid’s house, but resigned himself to get there when he remembered he wasn’t clean from just leaving the forge. He continued his path toward his house.

Fishlegs took the new book in front of him. He bought it some months ago now, but could never really get himself at it because of how busy he was with his counts on Berk’s of food and furniture. It’s not that he couldn’t read, really. But he needed time to concentrate on each new book that was offered to him. And the other problem was that the seller of this book didn’t know what it was talking about either, said that it was one of the thing he found on a deserted isle a while ago, after what could only be a dragon raid, probably the last, judging by the ashes that were left in the village of the isle. Heck, he said he didn’t even know what the name of the isle nor the village was, or so he said. So the beginning of his reading already had a late start.

But there was another problem.

There were _two_ different languages in this book, or so he thought from the writing on the books' cover. One with what seemed to be Latin, so he already recognized _some_ letters. But the other one? Oh boi! He couldn’t even understand _how_ it could be written! It impressed and amazed him at the same time. Did this mean there were other countries they didn’t even know about? Because he could not wait to discover them if that was the case (well, he _was_ hoping they weren’t too hostile of course). But then again, he already managed to translate the language of the Dragon Eye! Nothing could stop him, right?

But first, he got as many papers as he could to start his notes on the Latin, because it was the easiest for him. He was going to open the book, when he noticed the lock on the side of it while trying to open it.

“Ow… How did I no notice that earlier? Did you see it Meatlugs?”

His dragon looked at him with curious eyes, before licking his face. He chuckled and then sighed.

“I guess I can still do the cover. Maybe I should ask Hiccup to do something about this lock. The cold is gone anyway, so he should have time for it, right?”

Meatlugs rumbled happily. He took that as a yes.

Stoik looked at the fire in front of him. Even if he wasn’t showing it anymore, he was exhausted. It had been almost a year since he got fired at by Toothless, yet it was still hurting him. He knew why; he almost died that day, and a Night Fury's fire was one of the most powerful among the dragons. But he didn’t understand why he couldn’t just wake up with the pain gone. It was a stupid thought, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about it. His gaze shifted to the sleeping black dragon at his feet. Ever since he woke up after the the hit, the dragon was making sure he was alright. Of course, he spent most of his time with his son, but whenever they were together, he was watching over him.

Because it was feeling guilty.

More than 5 years ago, he would’ve happily laughed at whoever told him that dragons could feel guilty, nonetheless emotions in general. But now he was just amazed by it. And since Hiccup went to the forge with Gobber today, Toothless insisted on staying home to sleep. But both of them knew why he wanted to stay by Stoik’s side.

The chief sighed and left his seat to prepare tonight’s meal. At least he was able to walk again.

He heard movements behind him as he did so, and looked behind him. Toothless’ green gaze was fixing him. He smiled to the beast. He could never be mad at this creature. Plus, this whole incident wasn’t his fault at all. He gestured the kitchen to the dragon, and the dragon smiled while following him. Toothless would never say no to fishes.

While he was cooking the last fish, he heard the wings of a dragon outside. Four to be precise. Which meant Valka, his wife, was back from her chicken quest. He continued to cook the fish, while Toothless ran outside, probably to play with Jumper. He heard her opening the door, and closing it behind her. She paused in her movements, before coming in the kitchen.

“How can you make everything smell so good?” she smiled at him

“I guess a little love manages to do the trick?” he returned the smile

She got closer to him to put her hands on his shoulders while looking at him.

“Any left for me?”

They kissed gently. Oh he was so happy to finally have her back. She was beautiful, and amazing, and she was _his wife_. Maybe getting shoot in the back wasn’t so bad after all, if it meant having her back, and being able to have a complete family as well. He would do anything for his son and her. Anytime, anywhere.

They parted from the kiss, content with each other.

“So, will you let me cook?” Valka asked. And he laughed while Hiccup entered the house as well.

-*-

“PLEASE WAIT! I told you! I sold the book! I didn’t know what it was! I swear!”

The man couldn’t stop pleading for his life, even tho he was a viking. But this man… he was just so intimidating. And he knew he wasn’t from here. He was too scrawny, too… pale… and his eyes were the most unsettling part of his body. He had never seen eyes like those. It wasn’t ugly, or anything like that. He just had never seen eyes like those. They were thin, and really dark, almost black, just like his hair. But despite his appearance, there he was holding him above the ground by the collar like he was nothing more than a simple bag of rocks.

The man sighed, looking annoyed by his many demands.

“Please, stop your annoying noises, I will kill you anyway, since you saw me. Now, who did you sell the book to? I have to get it back before it falls into the wrong hands.”

“I don’t know who he was! Some big guy with a dragon!”

The man looked at him like he was a fool. “How the fuck am I supposed to work with that? Do you you know how many dragon riders are out there in the world? Don’t you have any more precision?” The frown on his face was intimidating now.

“His dragon was a brown Gronckle! Please! A-And he was a blond guy!”

He shrugged. Guess he wouldn’t be helping him anymore. He got a dagger out and planted it in the seller’s eye, waited for life to completely leave the body while the blood leaked from the wound, and dropped him to the ground to leave him for dead.

He cleaned the dagger in a tissue and returned back to the shore, before walking until he was underwater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done. yay.  
> Will see where this goes I guess.  
> As always I can only manage to write when I can, so yeah.


	3. The Book

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still trying to write despite work.  
> Enjoy !

“So you found all the chickens. What scared them so much anyway?” asked Hiccup

“I have no clue, but I think it might have a link with Fishlegs’ nephews becoming more and more troublesome with their explosions everywhere.” answered Valka while putting a piece of the fish in her mouth. And this, this was really good. As always.

Stoik sighed while hearing this “We already have the twins to deal with, and Gustav not letting much rest as well. We don’t need to fix everything after other children, especially when the only one they seem to listen to is their mother and Fishlegs.”

Hiccup chuckled “Yeah they don’t even listen to Toothless”

The dragon lifted his head when he heard his name and made a puffing noise. Hiccup giggled before throwing a part of his fish to him, which he managed to catch easily.

Stoik finished his plate before saying “Yes, well, we’ll have to find a solution as soon as possible. I don’t think I can take anymore of this. Nor can the dragons. Can you take care of it son?”

Hiccup shrugged “I can try. I think I’ll talk tomorrow with Fishlegs about it”

In reality, he was kinda content over the fact that their biggest problem for now was just a bunch of kids messing around (even if they were lighting most of the village on fire). He did not like having wars, and he hoped he would not have one again before a long time. Well, not a big one anyway. Peace is always something he would cherish.

He finishes his plate as well, while his parents kept talking to each other of various things, then gets up with a yawn. He wishes them good night before taking the stairs to his room with Toothless.

Once there, he closes the door and decides to draw a little before calling it a day. He takes his papers while Toothless warms his stone and sketches new ideas, weapons, or even his friends. He does not totally finish any of the sketches tho, leaving just enough details to recognize what he did. He finishes with a little drawing of his sleeping dragon before putting back the papers and charcoal on his table, and blowing off the candle. He could still hear his parents talking a little, probably cleaning the kitchen and all.

He falls in his bed, tired, without bothering to cover himself (since cold is over anyway), and falls asleep.

Fishlegs sighed when he finished his translation of the Latin words on the cover. It wasn’t as simple as he thought it might be, because there were some words that he didn’t have any translation for, maybe because they were an older version of the language, or newer. He could only guess.

“Book of Variety” This was the big title that he managed to find. He didn’t think it was exactly what it was saying, but at least he got something close to it. And at the bottom, he managed to find the name “Hachiro Takeshi”? He didn’t know if it was completely correct since Latin was… well… complicated with letters… Why did they have less letters but with different pronunciations for _one_ of them? But he does think he made a good job at translating the front anyway.

The more he looked at the writings, the more he thinks that the Latin writing might actually be a translation of the weird signs he did not recognize. After all, it _was_ written right under it.

He went to bed thinking he might have to mention to Hiccup this detail. Maybe he could confirm his thoughts.

-*-

A human underwater.

At first, the Scauldron thought that his eyes were deceiving him. But no; there was a man walking on the rocks and sand of the deep north sea, as if it was just like walking on lands. Of course, this got the dragon’s attention. So he approached carefully the little being, as carefully as he could. But this person turned their head towards him, and they both stopped dead on their tracks. Neither moved for a little time. The Scauldron decided to growl a little, as a warning. The human growled back.

Well they weren’t supposed to do that, were they? It took the dragon aback, and he backed a little, getting scared of this hu- no. Creature. Unknown. And it never seemed good. He was a bout to leave as fast as possible, because what was new was most of the time trouble.

But he noticed that the fishes, the most cowardly being in the ocean, that should’ve swim away when they heard the Unknown’s growl, just acted as if they weren’t there. As if their presence, which was very hard to not notice for the beast, was something _normal_ in the ocean.

That’s when he noticed that maybe, just maybe, he shouldn’t be near the Unknown. Because they were a higher predator then him. He backed away a bit more, still looking at them, before breaking eye contact to swim as far as possible from them.

The human chuckled at the Scauldron’s behavior. He loved dragons, because they were so big and all, and always thought that they could match everything that was smaller than them. They had such pride. But what he loved, no, _craved_ for the most, was when they realized that maybe, just maybe, they might not be up for the challenge, just by looking at him.

How fun.

-*-

_Steps_ . No. It couldn’t be that. The thumping was a bit louder. And coming from above. And he swore he could feel dust falling on his cheek. _Oh, the rooftop. Toothless is already awake_.

Hiccup groaned as he woke up. Toothless was _jumping_ on the house. If his parents were still asleep, they would be very mad at the fact that a certain Night Fury woke them up when they probably went to bed way later than Hiccup.

He dressed up as quickly as he could to be able to fly with Toothless in the early morning, like they usually did. Toothless entered in the room by the window when Hiccup was putting his armor on.

“Hey bud. You’re ready to fly away?” he asked. The dragon responded with a happy low growl.

“Off we go then.” He mounted his best friend and took to the sky by the opening.

Gobber heard the familiar flap of wings and stopped his work to look outside. The night fury just got on the ground when Hiccup got off him. He scratched under his dragon’s chin before approaching the forge. The bald man smiled.

“Ah! There you are! I suppose you were up there flying away in the clouds-”

Hiccup chuckled “Yeah yeah, make fun of me. But you have to admit that flying in the morning is the best thing”

“Can’t really say with that beast sleeping like there are stars in the sky when it is obviously morning (the beast in question rumbled in his sleep, probably feeling they were talking about him). I prefer to not wake too early as well, that’s mostly Stoik’s thing.” He resumed his blacksmith work by hitting with his hammer the saddle he was working on, while thinking that maybe, just maybe, Hiccup and Stoik have more in common then they thing (not that he would say it in front of his chief tho). When he noticed Hiccup wasn’t here for work, he asked “Why did you came here so early anyway?”

“Ah well, I’m looking for Fishlegs; I need to talk to him about his nephews. I thought maybe he came by to take the book about plants he left there last time.”

“Ay, well, he did that, but he also took some tools. He was looking for you as well; said he had somethin’ important to show ya. He’s probably back home right now, you should check there.”

Hiccup thanked his friend and left the forge. His dragon already left, probably went by looking for fishes.

When he knocks on the door, he heard some things, probably metal, falling on the floor, and the usual squeak of surprise Fishlegs lets out whenever someone startles him. “I’m coming! I’m coming!” He can hear some kind of fabric moving before the steps quickly gets closer. When the large viking opens the door, a big smile appears on his face.

“Hiccup! Oh good! I was searching for you, you know.”

“Yes, well, you know me: always flying up in the morning.”

He entered and followed Fishlegs when this one came back inside. Hiccup closed the door behind him and got straight to the point.

“Fishlegs, I have to ask you if you could try and resonate with your nephews a little. They seem… More chaotic each day passing by.” He petted Meatlugs on the way while walking behind his friend into his room. “You gotta do something about it-” Hiccup didn’t get to finish his sentence when he enters Fishlegs’ room. What a _mess_. He looks around to see tools everywhere on the floor, on his bed, and on his table. And on the last one, he sees a sheet on it. The obvious form of a book under it.

He turns his head towards him “How- Why is everything like this, your room is usually the cleanest of the gang.”

Fishlegs chuckles nervously and scratched the back of his neck while looking away “Yes well... that’s actually why I wanted to see you.” He walks towards his desk and takes the fabric off the book. Hiccup, intrigued, got closer to look at it. He would certainly be able to talk to him about the three troublemakers later on.

It seemed like a normal book, kinda big with all its pages, with a simple brown leather cover around it. He took it in his hands and noticed how _cold and heavi_ _er_ it was than what he thought. _Why is it so cold? It almost feels like…_ He quietly knocked on the cover. A metallic sound resonated when he did so, like hitting a metal plate.

“Oh Thor! I didn’t think of doing that! I mean, I noticed it was heavy, but this! It explains the lock!”

“The lock?”

“Oh yeah, look here!”

He turned the book where they would normally be the pages to open it, but as Fishlegs said, there was a small lock that he didn’t notice at all earlier on. This piece of the book had quite a simple yet fancy design, with what looked like a blooming flower parting from the center of the lock.

“Huh. Well that’s intriguing. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“And that’s not all! Look!”

He turned the book so they could see the front cover. Now, that was _weird_. There was Latin written under drawings that he had never seen in his life. He was good at Latin, English and French, thanks to the many books he read as a child, and so he tried to read the small writing out loud.

“"Book of Variety"? What does it mean?”

“Maybe the author himself didn’t know? I thought they might’ve written lots of different things in it. I didn’t get to open it yet...”

“Oh so that’s why you had all those tools! Is it that hard to break?”

“Honestly? It feels unbreakable… But you can try! That’s why I was looking for you! Since you can understand crafting the most.”

“Hm… I guess I can try”

He took a look at the bottom of the cover, and saw combinations of letters that didn’t make much sense to him, still written under those weird drawings. He tried to read those.

“Ha...chi-ro... Ta… kesho? Shi?”

“Yes, Hashiro Taqueshi. I think.”

“It doesn’t make much sens… Is it a name? Or a formula? Or some words that Latin wouldn’t be able to translate?”

“I was thinking it might be a name...”

“Yeah right. Makes sense. So a name from a language we never heard of?”

“I know right! This is so interesting! I might be an older civilization! Or people we never heard of! Oh! Do you think they might’ve dragons? Would they be the same as ours?”

“I don’t really know… I mean, don’t get me wrong, this sounds amazing and all, but… Last time we went off boarders, we mostly met hostile people…”

“Oh, you’re talking about the many Dragon Hunters we met… Yes well, we won’t know until we tried, right?”

Hiccup still looked dubious. He was excited about this, yes, but the feeling in his guts was screaming to him to be cautious. He didn’t say it out loud tho, knowing it might sound ridiculous. He picked one of the many tools scattered around the room and looked at Fishlegs.

“Well, let’s get this book open” He smiled at him. This might be interesting as well, he knew it.

Who knew what they would find?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that, a new mystery for Hiccup !  
> Idk when will the next chapter be up tho.  
> Hope you enjoyed !


	4. First Clues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is quite a long chapter. Sorry  
> Enjoy anyway !

“Is it working?” Fishlegs tried his best to not press his friends, but he had to be honest: if even Gobber wasn’t able to break this lock, then he didn’t know how they would do.

Hiccup kept showing Gobber what they already did, but his mentor didn’t want to hear a thing, telling him that they might’ve done something wrong when they tried to get it open that only him could do correctly.

“It will work, I just have to find the… right tools.”

“Oh come on Gobber! I already tried the pair of pincers, the hammer, and more! There’s nothing that you’re making that allows progress right now.” Hiccup huffed.

Gobber frowned “We would if you’d just let me use fire to melt this damn lock!”

“I already told you that’s a no; I don’t wanna risk burning this book.”

The bald man grumbled under his breath about this whole thing being useless.

After more tries, they gave up.

Hiccup sighed while sitting on his chair. Fishlegs left the forge, leaving the book in his desk. The sun was already high in the sky, which meant they spent all morning at this. He did not know how to feel about it tho.

As for Gobber, he went back to his regular work, not after wanting to burn the book so “it could go to Hel with his damn lock”. He chuckled thinking about this tho; his mentor did not get angry easily.

But he wasn’t about to give up just yet. He just waited for his friends to leave him alone, so he could get the real work done. Which meant it was time for him to get his notebook and charcoal out. Since Toothless was still out, and his parents were taking care if Berk, he still had some time ahead of him to get a closer look. He was wearing his usual apron on his green tunic and took the book in his hands.

The lock was very small, and Vikings weren’t usually using those. At least not as much on Berk. He knew that the twins would probably know how to “pick the lock” like would say, but he knew from the design that the mechanism must be different. It was a very unusual design, sharp as well. Whoever crafted this knew what they were doing, and had precision as their talent.

If only they had the key to-

_Oh… wait..._

_Of course, why did I not think of that?!_

He could just forge a new key! Of course!

This would definitely take time, so Hiccup started right up by drawing some first sketches.

-*-

“So, Riald, do you know any Dragon Riders in the north of Earth?”

Two humans seated in a tavern, in front of each other, two mead cups on their table. The first man, the one who spoke, was wearing a big fur coat, that weirdly enough, fitted his skinny body. He had a pale skin, with dark eyes, and black hair that were wet, along with his face, even tho the rest of his body was dry.

The second person had a much somber skin tone, close to olive skin. He too had dark eyes, even tho big shadows under his eyes could be noticed. Riald, as called by the pale man, answered with a yawn.

“On which part? You know there’s a lot of’em right? Cuz they managed to all get a dragon y’know. There’s vikings, Inuits, uh...” He squinted his eyes, thinking. He started counting with his hands in his own language, making his partner sigh. That could take all day, he had to make him go straight to the point. He snapped his fingers in his friend’s face to get his attention. Riald blinked in surprise, stopping his thoughts.

“Riald! Focus! I need Dragon Riders from the Vikings’ side.”

He shrugged “Still not enough.”

“Oh if I don’t kill you-” He started to growl.

“BUT! There _i_ _s_ famous place known for their pacific ways of dealing with dragons, which of course means they have, would you guess it, Dragon Riders! Well, actually, several places, but-”

“Where?”

“The Archipelago. And all around it. First, you have the Beserker Island, they used to have a White Wise under their isle y’know? And I still wonder how the beast could even enter under it. Like it’s so big! You remember what the Wises look like right?-”

“WHY-” He inhaled. He _had_ to remain calm. It wasn’t his friend’s fault if this book was completely lost. “Why can you not just give me a simple list that I can check, okay? I don’t want to know anything about their dragons, _OR_ the rest of their biodiversity. Just, who they are, and where I can find them. Although...” What did the seller say again? A… Glunk?… Was that the dragon? Man was it hard to keep up with different names everywhere.

“The seller I asked told me a blonde person with a… Glunk? Or something close to it, bought him the book.”

“Oh! I guess you’re talking about Gronkles. Which, does not help at all. Cause they’re one of the most common specie of dragon.”

“Well it was worth the try. Now can you write me a list of all the islands with Dragon Riders? So I can pay them a visit and hopefully find my book back?”

“And what if the guy that bought the book is a solo flyer that’s not even Vikings?”

“Please don’t say things like that. I need hope.” His voice broke when he said it. He didn’t mean it too, but he knew Riald was trying to lighten the mood with is own clumsy ways. Which led to the both of them starting to laugh. “Ah I missed you Riald.” He truly thought that. He had been very distant ever since he started to look for that _damn_ book. Why was it so hard to find?

“You too ‘Zuki.” He got out of his pocket a paper and a charcoal ( _of course_ he always had those on him) and started to write the names of the Islands and places with Dragon Riders in the North he knew of. He gave him the list afterwards.

There was a _lot_ of names.

“Ugh, when did so many appears?”

“Don’t know. Someone probably spreads the words about equality-all-that. I mean, it’s good that less killings are happening. But man does the world changes fast. What about your place? Any changes?”

“Eh. Still the same old Nihon. Just the politics. You?”

“Well we still don’t have water. Desert stays desert y’know?” They both chuckled.

They both exited the tavern after finishing their drinks.

It was a quiet and cool night. It truly felt like spring was coming up. Well, if they even had spring here. But the North didn’t look too bad, if he was being honest with himself. He glanced next to him to check his friend. Like he thought, he was freezing. Something that didn’t change throughout the ages. The pale man sighed and took off his big fur, to put it on the shoulders of Riald. This one was surprised at first but didn’t give him the cloth back, and instead wore it as fast as he could. He sighed a big mist when he was fully under it. _Why isn’t this imbecile taking warmer clothes more often, especially in this part of the Planet._ He sighed, making his breath into a some small mist as well. He now was left in a simple white tunic and black pants, with a key necklace around his neck, the key having the form of a flower at the top.

They walked together in silence until they were near the shore. This would be were they get separated.

Again.

Man, that hurt. All of this was because of him. He closed he eyes. _When did it go wrong?_

He felt Riald’s hand on his shoulder. He looked up to him. He was smiling. Softly. He started to take off the fur, but he interrupted him by putting his cold hands on his.

“Keep it. I have dozens of those already.” He smiled as well.

Riald’s eyes light up, like a child getting a new gift.

“Thanks man! It will be safe with me, I promise.”

“Better be. I’ll see you around”

Riald hugged him. “See ya Mizuki! Take care. And don’t get killed! And don’t forget to take breaks!” He let go of him while walking away. Mizuki narrowed his eyes.

“Says the one sleeping less than 5 hours a day”

“Ah well gottagocan’thearyouanymoooooore”

He ran, crouched down on the ground, before jumping like some kind of strong frog and turning his arms into giants wings.

Mizuki looked up until he disappeared behind the clouds. He walked calmly until he was near the water, and threw himself into it while screaming his frustrations out.

He _had_ to find that book. Whatever it takes.

_For him. For them._

-*-

_Here goes nothing._

Hiccup inserted the “key” he just finished inside the lock. Well, if you could even call this scrap of metal a key. At least he had the key blade, and that’s all that mattered. It took him all day to just do this. He _knew_ people would wonder where he went off hiding again, but he did not really care. This was interesting him way more. How long has it been since he finally got to be this excited or inventive with something? He _had_ to make those moments count before he was to get back to his chief’s son duty.

He pushed it inside and turned the key. But it did not open. He sighed.

“ _Shoot_ , now why doesn’t it work? Ugh, how did I even think it would work the first time though...”

He needed to know the inside of the lock. Its _pattern_ . But how? He sat back in his chair, brought his hand to his chin, thinking. A lock is like a puzzle, where only on e piece can go with an other to make it work. He had to find a way to c opy the inside of it. Something that would help him get a very close look i n the hole . Then he could try to make _real_ key out of it.

He thought of his own spyglass. That could work if he managed to make it smaller. He could take a look at it with a source of light nearby. But he would need _lots_ of light. And small at the same time. Or at least make sure it lights the small hole.

He took his sketch book again and moved his chair so he was in front of his desk and able to work on it. He still had some scraps of metal all over it but it was okay. He swept them away with his arm to have more space to spread all his papers, making noise when they fell on the ground. But he did not pay mind to it.

He was sketching again his ideas, when his mother’s voice got him out of his work.

“So that’s were you’ve been all day.” She said before entering his work space. She had her hands behind her back, and was wearing her usual armor, which meant she just came back from patrol. Hiccup could hear the distant chatting of Eret and Gobber about weapons on the other side of the forge. He looked outside and noticed that it already was night. Then his stomach rumbled when he realized he did not eat all day, except for a quick breakfast the morning. Valka chuckled and got her hands out of behind her back. She had brought with her food in a basket. He could smell the burned meat inside of it. He nervously smiled.

“Why didn’t you guys get me out of here? You know I don’t get out once I’m into inventions.”

“Well… Your father and I thought it would be good for you to clear your head. You did not really have time for yourself, you know? After Drago, and re-building Berk, and then the cold that showed right afterward… Even if it’s not the best way to do it, you had to change your mind a little, even if it’s for just a day. Gobber said he did not see you so invested into something for a long time!”

Hiccup thought a little about it. She was right. After his father got hurt during the battle with Drago, Hiccup had to take responsibility and lead their village for quite some time. He did not know how he would have handled things without his mother or his friends.

He nodded to his mother “Yeah, I guess I get it. Thanks for all of that. You guys are the best.”

Valka leaned on the table while smiling “No problem. Now eat, before it gets too cold”

Hiccup did what he was told and took the basket of food out of his mother’s hands. “So where were did you guys go? Was this patrol only Eret and you?”

“Well, yes. We went all over Archipelago, as always”

She talked about their mission went in there. Hiccup listened to her while still thinking about the lock. Why was it so interesting to him? Man, he needed to know how it worked. He knew how to make keys now, but he still wondered if-

“And you’re not listening to me anymore, are you?”

“What? No! I was!”

“Oh so maybe you can tell me what Eret did with Dagur.”

“Well- Wait you went to Beserker Island?”

Her mother laughed out loud. “Of course not Hiccup, I simply was, eh, messing with you, if that is how you say it.”

Hiccup chuckled “Yeah that’s how you say it.” He finished his food and putted the basket back, near his sketches, bringing his mom’s attention to the drawings. She took one of them – the one he just finished – in her hands and looked at it, like it was a masterpiece.

“I do wonder how you come back with those ideas…” She turned the paper to see if something was on the back as well “What is this key for?”

“For that book”

Hiccup got up and took the book in his hands to show it to her mother. She placed the paper she was holding back at its place and picked up the mysterious volume from her son’s hands. She got surprised by the heaviness of the object. “It’s heavier than I thought, this is for sure...”

She saw the lock and passed her fingers on it, as if trying to understand the flower form it had. Then it hit Hiccup; his mother traveled far away from the Viking’s territory! Maybe she knew what were the drawings on the cover!

“By the way, would you happen to recognize those symbols? Since, you know, you’ve traveled a lot and all.”

He turned the book around so she could take a look at it. Valka frowned when she saw the writings.

“No… I’ve never seen those before… You know I never went very far from the North. Only reached its limits. But maybe… Eret might know… He _truly_ traveled with his other job you know. Way farther than I did. Maybe we should show him if he’s still in the shop.” And with that she left Hiccup’s workplace with her son following close behind.

Eret and Gobber were still chatting about Thor knows what. He was still wearing his armor, Hiccup noticed, which meant they didn’t stop talking ever since both his mom and Eret came back.

Valka interrupted their discussion by literally shoving the ouvrage in his face. Eret blinked in surprise while she talked with excitement about this book. _Guess I h_ _ave to take_ _the e_ _nergy of discovering new things_ _from someone, heh_. He took the book in his hands, got surprised by its weight as well, and tried to open it, before noticing the lock.

“What the- a lock?”

Gobber spoke while Eret frowned “Yeah, and it’s completely sealed. Hiccup and I tried all the ways possible to open it, but nothin’ seems to be working.”

“Huh. It’s the first time I see something like that. Those symbols tho...”

“You’ve already seen them?!” Hiccup’s voice was full of hope. They might finally get some clues on whatever the hell was this book.

“I think so? I’m not sure. It was one of our buyers when I was a dragon trapper. He had those tattoos… I’m not saying they were the same, but similar. But Hiccup, he came from very, and I mean _very,_ far away. Wasn’t even talking Norse! We had to keep it up with what little English we both knew.” Eret frowned “I don’t even remember his name to be honest. Sorry I’m not much of a help”

Hiccup shrugged “It’s alright” He took the book back. “I’m trying to design a key to open it. Simple keys don’t work, that’s for sure; I tried.”

“Maybe you should take a break. Gobber told me you were at the shop working in this all day.” Eret said. “Go feel the wind a little, and stop worrying about it.”

“He’s right. This can wait Hiccup.” His mother smiled.

“Yeah okay, I’ll clean the mess before leaving tho.” he chuckled and got back to his workplace to put back everything at its place.

He joined Toothless on the beach. As an alpha, his dragon had to take care of his people.

Right now, he was with a Speed Stinger, who had to leave Berk to get back to his pack after being take cared of earlier this month. Hiccup and the gang found the dragon when he was got separated of his pack, and since he couldn’t get back because of the cold, they took him on Berk. And now it was time for him to get back.

He was leaving the island when Hiccup got to his dragon. When Toothless saw him, his ears fell on his head while he narrowed his eyes. He laid down on the sand.

_Oh crap, since I was working all day he couldn’t fly at all._

“Hey bud, I’m sorry I took me so much time in the forge. You forgive me?”

He turned his head away. Oh, so he was in one of _those_ mood. Hiccup chuckled before leaning against his friend. The dragon still didn’t look at him.

They were both as stubborn as the other. Which meant Hiccup wouldn’t give up this easily.

He stretched, still leaning on Toothless. “Y’know it’s kind of a really great night. There’s this small breeze you love so much… Maybe stretching your wings will light up the big baby dragon’s mood?” He smiled.

Now that got his attention. He turned his head toward the human with one of those “ _you called me what?_ ” look. Hiccup straightened up and held his hands in the air. “Just saying the truth. You really look like a grumpy baby. What an alpha!- _OOF_ -”

Well that did it.

Now, Hiccup couldn’t finish his sentence because Toothless jumped on him to crush him with his weight. He fell on his back and thanked the Gods there was sand beneath him. Toothless growled and spread his wings and arms to block the human under him. He closed his eyes and let a small toothless grin appear on his face. Hiccup sighed “Guess I’m not getting out of here huh?”. He laughed when the dragon laid his head on his chest, as an approval.

Hiccup closed his eyes and listened to the silence and the waves like this. The night was really calm, even though the noises from the active village could be heard from very far away. He opened his eyes to look up at the stars above him. Some clouds were obstructing the view, but not that much.

He knew some people were able to “read” the stars. Eret was one of them, and had already taught him some of the common constellations that he knew of. So he tried to look for the one named Karlavagnen, the most visible of all.

That’s when he noticed the fast figure flying though the clouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karlavagnen is the name of the Ursa Major for the Vikings.  
> You're welcome


	5. The Race

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup and Toothless want to get a closer look to the creature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda shorter, but i think it's better this way

Hiccup always had a great sight, and it was no exception when it was dark. That’s how he was able to spot a  certain night fury the first time when he was trying to prove himself years ago. 

S o seeing this thin figure appearing so suddenly took him a bit by surprise. He had never seen this form of dragon  before. Because that was too big to be a bird, right? It had h uge clear wings though,  compared to what he t hought was his body, and it was  _fast_ .  But circling above his village.  As if hesitating before landing. 

Well, maybe he and Toothless could convince it that they were good guys;  h is dragon was t he alpha after all, so it could try to listen.

“Hey, bud, you see them?”

Toothless opened his eyes, shining with intelligence. His ear plates were up.

He w as listening to the flying dragon,  not even looking at it.

Their green eyes met for a moment before Hiccup smiled.

“Wanna go say hi?”

Toothless answered with a happy rumble.

-*-

Riald  _knew_ he shouldn’t be here. But he  _had_ to be sure.

He had to be sure that he didn’t get the names of the Islands wrong.  The last thing he wanted was to disappoint Mizuki again.  He  knew he  had a very good memory, but he still had some doubt about himself.

_Why else did he left y_ _ou_

He shakes his head to make the thought leave and flies a little higher. Berk was the last island he was checking, and boy was he happy to notice that he did not get any of the islands wrong. He smiled at himself while watching the people and dragons living a colorful life together. He loved peace so much. People said that he was naive, and most often weak because of it, yet he still bested them in fight. _Never underestimate the_ _one that looks like the_ _pacifist_ _idiot of the group._ He flapped up to get covered by the clouds, even though he doubted anyone saw him. But his size wasn’t really helping with that.

Each of his wings was twice the size of his body. The fur coat was covering a big part of his h im , but he still appeared t hin . No t  that he had any problems with that. No. The problem was the colors of his wings.

See, Riald had a sort of tanned skin, black curly hair, and dark eyes, which made him difficult to spot. Especially at night. Something he liked about himself.

But that was when he was on the ground.

In the air, his wings were  _fucking white_ . Well, more like beige with small red marks all over it, like freckles.  It’s not that he hated his wings (even if they  _were_ the part of his body he despised the most),  but he preferred to be… discreet, most of the time. Unlike  _some_ of his friends.

He was absently watching the village, when he heard  wings flapping behind him. And coming to him. He turned his head  a little  to see a far away black dragon with a boy on it. The boy had a saddle! How interesting-

Oh

_Oh crap. I’ve been spotted_

-*-

At first, when Hiccup got behind this new dragon, he thought his eyes were deceiving him when he recognized some kind of coat.

“What the-” He lowered himself so only Toothless could hear him “Bud, we need to see the front of this… dragon?” He wasn’t really sure anymore. But he did not get most of its form wrong, that was sure. The big white wings were indeed his, despite the smaller body. He could spot some red points all over it. _Well if it is a dragon, it sure is an interesting one._ But that made Hiccup think; what if it was a dragon whose specie was almost gone? _Maybe his specie was pushed to extinction, like Night Furies… Poor dragon._

H e and Toothless went higher, trying to disappear above the clouds, while still getting a look to it. He wanted to get in front of it, so they could see its  head , to at least get some kind of image.

And then it  quickly  dove straight down, heading for the ground.  They had spotted them!  Now that was interesting!  Curiosity got the better of H iccup .

“He saw us! Toothless, dive! We can’t loose it!”

Toothless snarled  loudly  and followed the dragon.  _ Maybe he feels offended that he doesn’t even look at his alpha? _

If the dragon wanted a challenge, they’ll prove that they were up to it. They were too stubborn to give up a new dragon anyway.

-*-

Riald looked behind him. They were following. _Crap, now why won’t he give up?!_

He quickly straightened a few millimeters above the water after diving towards it, not slowing down. He looked behind him. The boy and his dragon were very well trained at flying! They managed to do the same move as he did. So in the air, he’s the one that would be vulnerable. What about the ground though?

He took a tight turn to get back t o the Island of Berk,  making sure his wings were still covering his human parts . All he needed to do was to go to the forest he saw earlier, turn back into a human, and run as fast as he could to get away from them and hide.

T hey managed to make the tight turn as well.  _Good, good. Not at all worrying, I got this._

He tried to go faster, but they were beginning to match his pace. 

_Fuck, I’m_ _so_ _doomed_ . 

-*-

They were getting closer to it. It was probably getting tired of this chasing, even if it started not so long ago.  _Not a lot of endurance, huh_ .  It made a quick turn to get back to Berk. They followed.

Hiccup was feeling good; how long since he last had such a  fun race? At least he considered this chase like a race. Maybe the dragon felt otherwise, like a prey.  _Man I hope that’s not what they think right now_ .  He was still leaning on Toothless,  who seemed focused in this as well, his eyes locked on the dragon before them. 

T he dragon’s way of flying was silent. It probably helped when it was hunting. If it even did that. Some dragons, like the Buffalord, were only eating plants, and got well  just with that. 

S oon they started catching up, just a few feet behind it.  They were getting closer to Berk’s beach. 

Closer to the sand. I t did not even get higher, staying just a little above the ground. Sand scattered everywhere on their way because of the two dragons’ speed.

Closer the cliff. If i t didn’t slow down, i t would crush himself on it. But by seeing his maneuvers earlier, he u nderstood what i t would do next. And so did Toothless.

I t straightened up just as  it could’ve died from a collision with the rock of the cliff. Hiccup and Toothless did the same thing right after i t .  They w ould be able to catch i t right now ! 

That was until it threw itself into the forest. They followed inside, but the trees wouldn’t leave them any space to fly, and so they had to land and run after it.

Only the dragon was now  _gone_ . Vanished. 

Toothless stopped in his run to allow Hiccup to come down.  The human turned his prosthetic so he could walk, and wandered a bit away from his dragon while he sniffed the air, searching for some kind of smell. His hand fell to his sword, in case they would need it to introduce themselves to this new dragon.  The strangest thing about this was that they were no footprints around them, despite the  broken branches  and scattered leaves  that proved something  _did_ land here. While searching for clues, Hiccup saw white feathers on the ground. He crouched to get one of them; it was indeed one of the dragon’s wings, because of the small red spots on it. He turned it between his fingers, thinking. How could a dragon have feathers? Was that even a dragon? He wandered if they weren’t chasing a bird all this time after all. But what a bird then! It was the first time he saw one this big. 

Toothless snarled to him  before  quickly running through the woods : he  had found a smell.  Hiccup followed.

-*-

Now this was the tricky part. After he landed, not without hitting and breaking small boughs on his way (again, thanks to  _those wings_ ), he had to make sure to not touch the ground with his feet. And for that, the trees helped a lot. He rolled when touching the ground,  the move  allowing to change his wings back to hands,  then used one of his strongest jump to go to the highest  branch he could reach. Once he caught it, he swung himself to  cross a long way above the trees and get as far away as possible from the boy and the dragon, who he heard just landed beside him. Luckily though, they did not seem to notice him up in the air, before he  crashed  on the grass, still hitting the trees in his fall.  He quickly got up, and cleaned his clothes, acting as if nothing happened, despite  his insane heartbeat . It felt as if it was going to bust out. This crazy chase gave him a roller coaster of emotions, between fear, fascination, excitement, and anger at himself. For letting himself seen by a simple man so easily. Maybe people were right about him.

He was about to sit on the ground to catch h is breath, when he heard the dragon’s snarl from far away. He smelled his clothes.  _Shit, of course_ . With all of this, he was sweating as if he was back to the Sahra, which made him easy to spot. 

So he took some mud near him, made a silent apology to Mizuki for what he was about to do to his coat, and splattered the dirt everywhere on him; face, arms, legs, hair.

Then, he hid his footprints with what was left, climbed the pine tree behind him, and began to lay on one of the biggest branch, hidden by all the leaves.

He slowed his breathing down, close to none, and stopped every movements of his body. He could feel his pulse slowing down, almost nonexistent. _Good,_ _let’s stay calm_. 

Now, he just had to wait, and watch with his eyes who exactly was the one that followed him.

-*-

Toothless followed the trail until  the part of the forest full of pine trees. The odor stopped here. He huffed,  while still searching and looking around . Where did it go? He knew this wasn’t a dragon, despite what Hiccup thought (even if with the feathers his boy should’ve understood that it was not by now). But the dragon  could not c omprehend what it was.  Though i t was n’t the first time he smelled something like this. He could always remember the scent of who or what he met in his life, going from his birth to his adult phases.

T hat was how he knew that this… He already smelled it before.  From the moment he approached it in the sky, it felt familiar. Not  exactly the same though. This is why he needed so much to catch it. To see what it was. Maybe… He could remember more of his past, or recognize the creature, if he saw his face. This was really frustrating.

He remembered with the smell, when his was a small dragon, snow, ice, all around him. Blue and purple lights as well… 

He heard Hiccup arriving behind him.

When Hiccup first saw Toothless, he thought he finally found the strange feathered dragon. Which might be why he was seating, looking before him.

But then he noticed  that  his ears plates were down on his head.  He slowed his pace, to place himself next to h is friend.  He saw the frown on his face; he was disappointed, angry, but at himself. As if it was his fault if they lost the dragon. 

“Hey bud, it’s not your fault if we lost them.” He turned his head away and got back on all fours, before laying on the ground, getting some mud on him. This was more then just a simple chase for him.

“Is it because you are not used to others ignoring you? Like… something hurting your pride?”

The night fury looked at him,  huffing with a frown  on its face .  _So that’s definitely not it_ .  “Just trying to understand there bud, sorry.”

Toothless softened his face, and bumped his head to the human’s legs. “ It’s okay. We’ll find him, I promise. He could not have gone far anyway; everyone would get tired after such a race.”

T he dragon looked at him with hopeful eyes, to which Hiccup responded with a soft smile. Was this getting personal for him? Did he know this dragon, like this Whispering Death before? Whatever this was, he would make sure to be there for him.  He rested his hand on the Toothless’ head, scratching softly his black scales. 

“Come on bud, let’s head back. At least we did fly tonight, eh?” Hiccup chuckled.

Toothless made a small gummy smile  and started to slowly get back up.  He took his time to do so, still making in order his thoughts.

His human was already far away, when he  _smelled_ it. He looked around him, but saw nothing. He sniffed a bit more. No.

_ Above _

The night fury looked up. He could see two eyes shining in the dark. The form of this creature was blending perfectly with the branch and leaves of the tree he was on. Toothless’ eyes widened. He had found it! He was going to call Hiccup, when the thing above him made a hand gesture that sometimes the humans would do. He closed all his fingers, except for the one near the thumb, and brought his hand i n front of i ts mouth.  
I t wanted him to remain silent. 

Then, the creature jumped off the tree, turning his hands to the wings they saw earlier, and flew off the island quickly,  into the dark night,  under the dragon’s amazement.  Toothless watched t hem leave, until he couldn’t see them anymore. 

H e broke from the astonishment he was feeling when he heard Hiccup call him from very far away. He hurried back into the village, while thinking. Should he make his friend aware that he saw what they were chasing earlier?  But how could he even do that? Plus, the creature seemed serious when it asked for his silence. 

No. Maybe he shouldn’t tell.

He had to remain silent about it.

**Author's Note:**

> Will I ever continue this ? Who knows. But oh boy, hope this isn't too confusing.  
> I continue this if I get enough time. Hope I can lol


End file.
